There are always computer companies trying to worry Mac users into buying software they don't need. You can cite all the articles (or infomercials, as they usually turn out to be) you want, but actually TALK to Mac users (rather than dismissing their real world experience) and the picture changes radically.

I have been on broadband for at least 15 years, with no virus, Trojan, spyware or any other kind of security software of any kind. I have opened every single email attachment I ever got, surfed some VERY dodgy sites, used P2P software without restraints, and basically done everything that is GUARANTEED to bring a PC to its knees, even ones supposedly running expensive security stuff.

I have never received ONE piece of malware in the entire time. NOT ONE.

For me, the piece of mind I have actually experienced (not the paranoia that security software vendors would LIKE to engender) has been worth the slight additional cost of the computer. Tell me, how MUCH have you spent on security products, hosed drives, lost productivity and lost data in the last 15 years? Enough to finance the difference between a PC and a Mac, I am sure!

Before you surf the internet looking for support for your position (after all, EVERYTHING they say on the internet is true, isn't it? ) why don't you take the ACTUAL experience of those of us that have nothing to gain by lying, first?

I am no computer guru. And I doubt too many of us here are, either. If you simply want to use your computer as a TOOL, rather than have to learn all about how it works simply to be able to keep it running well (or pay someone else to do that for you), a Mac pays for itself pretty quickly...